Clear
by DramaticStarlet
Summary: He would give anything if she would stay with him. ChaseZoey.


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**Title: **Clear  
**Pairing: **Choey (Chase / Zoey)

**Author: **DramaticStarlet / Katie Lynn  
**A/N: **Well, I recently watched "Chase's Grandma," and I got this really good idea that wouldn't leave me alone until I got it down.

So here it is. But it's really sad, so don't say I never warned you or anything.

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_Beep. Beep. Beep._

The sound was so repetitive. The incessant "beep" of the heart monitor. The constant reminder that Zoey was still with him. That Zoey was still there.

"Chase, it's almost midnight. Are you sure you don't want to go home?" Dr. Quinn Pensky-Reese said, setting a tentative hand on Chase Matthews' slumped shoulder.

"I can't leave her, Quinn. I gotta stay. I need to be here..." Chase said quietly.

"Well, alright. I'm checking out soon, but call me or Logan if _anything_ happens," the brunette woman sighed.

Chase just nodded, running a hand through the mass of curly hair atop his head.

_I love you, Fuzzyhead._

_Has your hair gotten bushier?_

Zoey's voice ran through his head, and he couldn't help but smile smally. Her soft, contagious laughter rang in his ears and he could almost feel her lips pressed against his. She was all around him, and it felt like his senses were on overload.

"Zo, please. Please wake up," Chase pleaded, brushing his hand against his wife's porcelain cheek.

He got out of his chair and carefully moved Zoey's unresponsive figure so that he could lay beside her in the small hospital bed.

He hadn't known that she had heart trouble, and apparently she hadn't either. The sudden heart attack during his birthday dinner that night was such a surprise...

She was only 25!

It was so, so unfair.

"Zo, if it's your time...I understand...but please, please not tonight. Please. Anything you want just for you to stay with me for just tonight, Zo, please..." he begged, pressing his face into her caramel-colored locks.

A sudden knock on the door resounded, and a pretty, young nurse with pixie-short brown hair and crystal blue eyes appeared at the doorway, holding out a telephone.

"Mr. Matthews, I hate to interrupt, but you have a phone call. Lola Martinez?"

"Fine," Chase replied, taking the phone from the nurse when she made her way over to where Chase sat by Zoey.

"_Is she okay?!_" a high, feminine voice screeched when Chase answered.

"I don't know, Lola."

"_Chase, I am __**so so **__sorry. God, I can't believe - _"

"Lola, you haven't called us in six months."

"_I know, it's been really crazy. I'm sure you've heard about my new movie – you know what, that's no excuse. Chase, please don't be mad at me. Tell me what happened, Quinn only told me that she had some severe heart attack or something,_" Lola said apologetically on the other line.

"I don't know, we were just at a restaurant for my birthday, and...God, Lola. This is the last thing in the world that I wanted to happen."

"_Chase, my plane's boarding, but I'll be at the hospital in a few hours. I promise, promise, promise to call you as soon as I land,_" Lola said quickly before abruptly hanging up.

Chase just sighed and set the phone down on the cheap, imitation wood night table setting beside the bed.

He wrapped his arms around Zoey's dormant figure. Chase closed his green eyes, pretending that she was simply...sleeping or napping or anything. Anything but comatose; anything but dying.

Suddenly, the screen monitoring Zoey's heart rate began to make one, monotonous beeping sound, the jagged line falling flat.

"Zoey!" he shouted, his own heart thumping in his chest. This wasn't happening; it couldn't be.

Before he could even blink, a flood of doctors stamped in. In the midst of it all, Chase could hear words like "Clear!" and sounds like static. He could taste his own blood as he bit his tongue too hard.

"Mr. Matthews, please let me - " a nurse began, her voice a frantic but sweet, began, but Chase didn't hear a word she said, because he was swept out of the room.

He could feel blood pumping through his veins, rattling his heart, shaking him into a sort of crazed calm. Chase wasn't even sure that he was still feeling anything.

The only thing that he was happening was that tears were falling from his eyes, hard and fast, blurring his vision and dampening his cheeks.

An immeasurable lapse of time passed, the seconds slowing and the minutes slogging.

"Mr. Matthews, we've managed to save your wife for a few more moment, but she doesn't have long. Perhaps it would be best for you to begin saying your farewells," the frantically calm nurse said, now solemn.

Chase nodded, his bushy hair falling into his eyes as he wiped his tear-stained eyes with the back of his hand.

He trudged into Zoey's room for what would be the last time ever, and collapsed onto his knees beside the bed.

Chase set his head on Zoey's arms, not sure what to say. Did he have anything left to say? Would his voice even allow him to speak?

"Zo, I – I – I - " he stuttered, his words slurred with despair.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

The heart monitor beeped, reminding him that he only had so much time left with his perfect, beautiful, indescribably wonderful wife.

"I love you," Chase managed to chose out as his tears began again, a river of saltwater streaming onto the scratchy hospital sheets.

_Now was that so hard to say? I love you too._

He could hear her voice in his conscious again, he could _hear _the smile in her voice.

And then, the laughter faded, and he heard the solid beep again.

Chase glanced at the clock miserably, searching for the indication that Zoey was the second person to die on his birthday.

When his eyes met the minute hand, he whispered "Thank you, Zoey" in a tearful voice.

It was 12:01 the next day.

--

Well, I was originally going to keep Zoey alive, but that didn't seem very realistic, and it would have thrown the plot all out of whack. So yeah.

Also, this is my first Choey, and I'm still working on my Chase characterization, so please don't be too harsh about his slight OOCness, okay?

**Please review with more than "so sad!!" or "i loved it," thanks.**


End file.
